The medical profession has long recognized that the outcome of an emergency involving a serious injury or illness is very dependent on the patient receiving proper medical attention as expeditiously and as efficiently as possible, both immediately after an accident (or unexpected illness) and during transportation of the patient to a permanent medical facility. Similarly, quick and proper care reduces the overall cost of a serious injury or illness.
In this regard, emergency vehicles, including air-medical aircraft, are generally operated by highly trained medical personnel, and include a variety of medical equipment and supplies carried on board the emergency vehicle for use in an emergency situation. While it is vitally important to have knowledgeable medical personnel at the patient's side as quickly as possible after the injury (or illness), many emergency situations also require special medical equipment to properly care for the needs of the patient at the scene of the accident, and during transportation of the patient to a medical facility.
Advancements in emergency medical equipment technology have reduced both the size and the weight of emergency equipment. Where older counterparts of newer generation equipment may not have been economically transported to the patient's side because the equipment was too large and/or too heavy to be economically configured to emergency vehicle, the newer smaller/lighter versions are more easily adapted to emergency vehicles and carried to the accident site for emergency use. In this regard, using newer generation emergency equipment, more life saving equipment can be carried on board the emergency vehicle to the accident site for emergency use; this reduces the time a seriously injured patient must wait before receiving proper medical attention.
While much of the emergency equipment carried on board the emergency vehicle may not be used for each and every emergency, if the equipment is compact and light weight enough to be readily stored or positioned within the vehicle interior--so as to not inhibit use of other equipment by the attendants, or significantly reduce the efficiency of the emergency vehicle by adding excess weight--equipment that is used less frequently can be kept on board the emergency vehicle at all times. Thus, as breakthroughs in equipment technology continually reduce the size and weight of medical equipment, more and more life saving medical equipment can be carried directly to the patient's side (i.e., the accident site) as opposed to bringing the patient to the equipment (i.e., the hospital emergency room). Examples of equipment currently carried on board emergency vehicles include monitors, defibrillators, oxygen tanks, intravenous bags and intravenous pumps, to mention a few.
However, as more equipment is carried on board the emergency vehicle, positioning of the equipment within the emergency vehicle interior becomes more critical to ensure the accessibility of the attendant (and/or attendants) to the equipment, supplies and the patient (and/or patients). Attendants must be able to readily access the emergency equipment in a safe and efficient manner when needed, and readily move the equipment within the vehicle interior to storage positions when not needed, or within close proximity of the patient when needed; this is particularly applicable to air-medical aircraft. Equipment that is difficult or cumbersome to access and use by medical attendants will, when time is of the essence, not be used. This can reduce the overall efficiency of the medical attendants and of the emergency response vehicle, hence the final care received by the patient.
In the air-medical industry, weight is an even more important factor when designing aircraft interiors (this is opposed to ground ambulances). Specifically, the medical equipment, accessories, and components comprising the aircraft interior must be small and lightweight without unnecessarily sacrificing strength and durability. In addition, aircraft interiors are generally compact and require that the equipment, for safety reasons, be permanently positioned within the aircraft cabin prior to flight (this is a requirement of the aviation administrations in the U.S. and in Canada). More specifically, during flight the equipment must be securely mounted within the aircraft interior to prevent the equipment from being hurled about the aircraft interior in rough or windy conditions, or in the event of an emergency (or rough) landing. Equipment and equipment mounting hardware that is not properly secured within the aircraft interior, or which requires the attendant to detach the equipment for relocation during flight, can inadvertently strike passengers--pilots, attendants and patient(s)--if, for example, turbulence is encountered during flight while the equipment is being relocated. Also, because aircraft cannot be readily landed or stopped (as opposed to ground ambulances) to retrieve needed equipment that may be stored in external storage compartments, it is even more important that the equipment adapted for air-medical use be carried within the aircraft interior wherein the medical attendants can easily move the equipment about the aircraft interior without unnecessarily detaching the equipment from its mounting hardware. Additionally, since weight and balance are particularly important to safe aircraft operations, mounting hardware used to securely attach medical equipment within the aircraft interior should be lightweight and compact to avoid significantly changing the aircraft center of gravity as the equipment and mounting hardware are moved about the aircraft interior.
Emergency vehicle interior space that is not well planned with respect to emergency equipment location, patient location and attendant accessibility to both the equipment and the patient, can be a detriment to effectively treating the patient or patients. In an extreme case, poorly configured emergency vehicle interiors may result in the loss of a patient because of inaccessibility to needed emergency equipment, or the inability of the attendant to properly monitor the equipment and simultaneously tend to the patient's needs. Accordingly, medical equipment should be conveniently located within the emergency vehicle interior and be readily accessible by the attendant or attendants. Further, emergency equipment should be readily movable within the vehicle interior and with the patient as the patient is transferred between emergency vehicles and/or between emergency vehicles and medical facilities.
Time, space and manpower are the principal constraints in emergency care response. Since only one or two medical attendants are typically available to serve the patient's needs during the entire transfer and transportation process, these attendants must have efficient and effective access to the medical equipment necessary to treat the patient's medical needs. In this regard, there is a need for a system of adapting medical equipment within the interior of an emergency response vehicle, specifically an air-medical helicopter, that economically utilizes available space within the aircraft interior allowing the attendants to readily move and/or relocate the medical equipment with respect to the patient without necessarily removing the equipment from its securing rack. In addition, the system should allow the attendants to readily remove the equipment from the aircraft interior when it is more convenient to carry the equipment to the patient's side and/or to transport the equipment with the patient on a respective stretcher.